Apple TV gets official YouTube support, maybe HD content (updated)

Apple dropped another bomb on us today, this time about the Apple TV. Turns …

Apple dropped another bomb on us this afternoon, and I totally missed it because I was offline for less than an hour. There is a lesson to be learned here, folks: never go offline. Engadget has a pseudo-transcript of Steve Jobs at D 2007, the "all things digital" conference hosted by Walt Mossberg.

The news is that Apple will officially be supporting YouTube on the Apple TV. That's right—the Apple TV is, all of a sudden, no longer a closed iTunes ecosystem. Apple announced that beginning in mid-June, Apple TV users would be able to stream YouTube videos directly to the Apple TV through the device's pretty interface, no plug-ins required. And for free.

Buried in the announcement is also another intriguing nugget: the company is now adding an additional, build-to-order option for the Apple TV that has a 160GB drive instead of the default 40GB. This is probably great news to many, and infuriating news to those who already bought Apple TVs. It has become sort of a mantra that the default 40GB was too low for most avid TV consumers, although it doesn't bother me personally since I'm more of a streaming fan. While the 40GB option remains at $299, the 160GB option is now $399.

Steve Jobs made sure to lay it on thick about how great Apple is to partake in this venture. "This is the first time users can easily browse, find and watch YouTube videos right from their living room couch, and it’s really, really fun," he said. "YouTube is a worldwide sensation, and Apple TV is bringing it directly from the Internet onto the widescreen TV in your living room."

Apple said that "thousands" of YouTube videos would be available at launch, with YouTube's full catalog available to the Apple TV in the fall. This sounds like Apple will not be streaming from YouTube directly, but that the videos will go through some sort of Apple proxy before reaching my TV. In this case, I'm curious as to how it will work. How will users be able to navigate the tens of thousands of videos available on the site? When new videos are uploaded to the site, how quickly will they appear for Apple TV consumption? I need to be able to see my Mentos-induced Diet Coke explosions now.

Steve also said the iTunes Store will be selling its 100 millionth TV show this year. There was also an interesting tease relating to one of the complaints regarding the Apple TV, the visual quality of content from video downloaded from the iTunes Store. While some people are unhappy with that quality, Steve Jobs is not one of them.

It's pretty good quality -- we aren't selling high def... at this point. But I think in the future that might change!

It can't happen soon enough for those cursed with superior vision. The question now becomes when, and what content, movies, TV, music videos? These are questions that currently have no answers. Come mid-June, I'll be waiting with bated breath, Steve.

Jacqui Cheng
Jacqui is an Editor at Large at Ars Technica, where she has spent the last eight years writing about Apple culture, gadgets, social networking, privacy, and more. Emailjacqui@arstechnica.com//Twitter@eJacqui